


Times Like These

by derseofprospit



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Humanstuck, M/M, davekat - Freeform, huehuehue, mentions of domestic violence, smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 17:16:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1436401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derseofprospit/pseuds/derseofprospit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're getting married to a person your dad set you up with in a week. Did you mention you haven't met her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Times Like These

In times like these, you are really glad to have friends like Jade Harley. 

Your wedding day is in a week, and you’ve been dreading it from the very moment you didn’t decide on it. It’s not that you don’t like Nepeta, really you do, but the whole arranged marriage thing puts a damper on the situation. You’ve seen enough movies to know that you might not love her now, but eventually the two of you could become close and live happily ever after. 

You can’t help but feel like that’s not the way things are supposed to be in real life.

You panicked this morning when your soon-to-be Mrs. called to wake you up, her voice cheery and pleasant as always. Even hearing her name makes you anxious, god forbid the moment you get to see her in person. 

She’ll be coming across the country for this. And while she’s not exactly rich, she has more money in Florida than you do in your dingy New York apartment. You met online courtesy your good friend Terezi, and humored the both of them with your pathetic attempts at roleplay. She was a cat-girl with an adorable knack for romance, a quality you had in common. 

Terezi is one of the few friends you had in high school that stuck with you through to college. John and Rose live nearby as well, and though you don’t have classes with them, you see them on a regular basis. 

Jade flew in yesterday to visit John, who are not as distant relatives as you had originally thought. She didn’t know about Nepeta then. She invited you and a few others to lunch at some shitty burger place, which of course you made a big deal of not wanting to go and then deciding to go anyway.  
When you get there, you are waved down to a table in the far corner, where Jade, John, and Rose greet you with a smile. 

The first thing said to you is, “Where’s Terezi?” 

“She’s busy,” you deadpan. To be honest you don’t really know where she is or why she didn’t want to come, maybe catching up on schoolwork or something. “She’s probably watching Judge Judy and yelling at the television screen with a fork full of ramen in her mouth.”

The meal drags on. Even after the four of you finish eating you continue to sit. John tells a story about some girl whose name you don’t quite catch, Jade laughs embarrassingly loud, and Rose makes her usual witty comment. The cycle repeats at least five times while you count the time it takes for customers to leave and be replaced by new ones. In your head, you play a game you used to play with the Lalondes when we were bored; try to come up with the life story of anyone who walked by. Rose was exceptional at it; nobody doubted her accuracy since she has the ability to psychoanalyze anyone with barely so much as a simple sentence from their mouths. 

You think these things to distract yourself of the one event that’s been nibbling away at you for months. You have to tell them eventually, and it’s not like they’re going to be disappointed in you or anything. But what if they are? What if they start doubting your motives, or thinking less of you because you’re letting people arrange you into a marriage you don’t want? 

You clench your fists tighter and tighter until your knuckles turn white and your stubby nails, which you’ve bitten to the nub, dig into your skin.  
Jade must have noticed you tense up because she asks, “You’re being unusually quiet, Karkat. What’s eating you?” She paused a moment and grins before saying, “No pun intended.” 

“Yeah usually you’re the loudest and most obnoxious one here,” John adds. 

“First of all, asslamp, you’re not exactly the fucking definition of polite wallflower yourself,” You say in vain. It’s your pathetic attempt to avoid Jade’s question and change the subject – but you can’t delude the girls. John, maybe, but not Jade and Rose, they’re too smart for that. 

“Karkat,” Rose presses, catching her indigo irises with your grey ones. One might think she does this to give people support, the way you might gently take someone’s hand or give them a hug. She’s actually calculating, running your every emotion through her head like a file in a computer. Lassoing a rope tight around your problem and dragging it out of you. 

The admission falls from your mouth before you know how to word it properly. 

“Somehow I got caught up into this arranged marriage her parents and my parents were really close apparently when they were little and they want me and her to get married to live out their dream or whatever and now I’m getting married next week.”

You say it all in one breath. You thought telling them would lift the weight from your chest, but it only succeeds in making you feel guiltier. Is it your fault that you don’t want to marry her? You seem to be the only one in the situation that thinks that way. Maybe you can learn to love Nepeta, catlike tendencies and all. Still, you can’t help but feel like something’s wrong, though, like you may not ever really love her the way you could. The thought only adds another brick to your shoulders.  
“Congratulations!” Jade is the first one to speak, and then all at once the table bursts.

“Way to go Karkat,” and “Who?” are the only two phrases you catch in the midst of them all blabbering at once, they’re words blending together and rattling your brain.  
“Nepeta, Terezi’s friend from Chicago.” 

“I heard about her! She’s this cat girl. But be careful, Karkat, she’s got this best friend and he is huge and very strong. I wouldn’t pick a fight with that guy,” Jade says with a smile. 

“I already know about Equius. He gets off on robots and ponies.”

“God forbid he runs into a robo-pony,” John says, and they launch back into humorous conversation again.

After a while Rose has to leave so she can go on a date, and you part ways. Before you do, you walk John and Jade to their Ford pick-up. He gets in and she stays outside for a moment. 

“I can tell you’re super stressed about this whole thing,” Jade says. “I mean the whole arranged marriage that you don’t want to be a part of thing.” 

You press your lips together to keep from spewing something like, oh, really, you didn’t notice before? Well why don’t I just brew us some fucking tea and let’s have a nice long conversation about why you’re full of shit.

You’re trying to not be an asshole to people. You just nod. 

“I think you need a friend that can ease your nerves a little, when John and I aren’t around. And I think I know just the person for that job.” She pauses and digs a napkin from her grey messenger bag, scribbles across it, and shoves it at you. “Call this number whenever you need to. He works in a coffee shop near here but I don’t know exactly where.”

“This better not be a therapist or psychiatry I swear to all that is mighty –“ 

“No, no, no, just some guy that I know.” She steps forward and hugs you quickly, before you can react. 

“Thanks, Jade.” 

As she steps into the driver’s side and smiles at you through the window, a surge of warmness runs through you. You are so glad to have friends like Jade Harley.

**Author's Note:**

> oop had to go back and edit the point of view all fixed


End file.
